Rotary furnace



July 20 1926. n ,592,967

F.T.COPE

ROTARY FURNACE Filed Deo. 2l, 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet l July 20 19,26.

F. T. COPE ROTARY FURNACE Filed Deo. 21, 1925 z Sheets-Sheet 2 @norway Patented July 2o, 192s.

.UNITED STATES 1,592,967 PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK T. COPE, OE SALEM, OHIO, alssIeNon To THE ELECTRIC EURNACE COMPANY. or v sALEM, OHIO, A CORPORATION OE OHIO.

ROTARY EURNACE.

Application led December 21, 1925.. Serial NO. 76,676.

The invention relates to continuous furnaces for heat treating articles of various size and shape and more vparticularly to a furnace of this kind provided with. a movable hearth for carrying articles to be treated, the improvement being best adapted to a continuousfurnace of the rotary type. I.

The object of the present improvement is to provide a movable hearth suspended within the furnace from a movable support; a further object being to .suspend hooks from themovable support for the attachment of small gears or similar articles above the' hearth, ywhereby the capacity of the furnace may be increased.

Anembodiment of the invention is illus.- trated'in the accompanying drawings, in which- IFigure 1 is a sideelevation of the ini-- proved furnace, one-half` being shown in vertical section;

Fig. 2, a plansectional View of the same, and

Fig. 3, a section lsubstantially on the line 3-3, Fig. 2.

Similar numerals indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawing.

The furnace illustrated and described in the present application is of the rotary type although itis obvious that the im rovements vare adaptable to any form o continuous furnace in which it may be necessary or desirable to provide a moving hearth.

The furnace comprises the annular base or bottom wall 1 and the concentric, cylin.

drical outer and inner walls 2 and 3, respectively, all of saidwalls being lined with suitable refractory material shown at 4.

The bottom wall is provided with an annular trough 5 in which may be located electric resistance eleme'nts 6 and similar rsistors 7 may be mounted u on the side walls of the annular heating c amber.

The top wall of`the furnace, indicated Vat 8, is also lined with refractory material 9 and provided with an annular slot 10 which may be' reinforced by the flanges 11 of the metal top plates 12. 0

The post 13 is centrally located within the furnace structure and has the hub or sleeve 14 journaled upon the upper portion thereof and held against end movement upon the post as by the collar 15 and cap 16.

Radial arms '17, upon the hub 14, carry a ring 18 located above the annular slot 10 in the furnace roof and a gear 19. is` fixed upon the upper `end portion of the hub, the inclined brace rods 2O connecting said gear with the ring 18.

This gear meshes with apinion 21 mounted upon a vertical shaft 22, journaled in' any suitable manner in the superstructure 23 of the furnace. This shaft may be driven from anysuitable source of power and as illustrated in the drawings may carry the ,worm gear 24 which meshes with a worm 25 upon a shaft 26. A gear 27 may be fixed upon the shaft 26 and meshes with a pinion 28 upon a drive shaft, whereby the ring 18 may be rotated slowly, either continuously or intermittently. y

The ring 18 is thus carried by the hubl 14 and arranged t0 be rotated above the annular slot 10 at thedesired speed. p

Rods 29 are suspended, at spaced intervals, from the ring 18, being located through the annularslot 10 in the roof of Itheffurnace. p

The hearth, which maybe in the form of arcuate platesy 30, is suspended upon the..

lower ends of these rods and located within the annular trough 5 in the bottom of the detachably suspendedupon the rods 29 and as furnace. These hearth plates are preferably shown each rod`may have a block 31 at its lower end provided with studs 32 upon its upper face, said studs being arranged to enfter apertures 33 in the end portions of the plates, which rest upon the blocks.

i The inner side edge of each hearth plate Vmay be provided-with an upright flange 34 to prevent articles placed thereon 'from being accidentally pushed over the edge of the hearth and down-turned flanges 35 may be provided at each vside edge of the hearth plates to strengthen the same and prevent warping or twisting under high temperatures. I

A `door sill plate 36 may be located at the Y bottom of the charging door ofthe furnace.

and provided with the down-.turned inner periphery of the Y edge 37 extended over the hearth plates.

Any articlesof irregular shape or size may be placed upon the hearth plates' for vtreatment and inI order to increase the capacity` of the furnace, as well as to heat articles whose treatment is very particular, since ar.- ticles suspended in the furnace receive heat from all sides and are thus very uniformly heated, hooks 38 may be suspended from the ring 18, between the rods 29, to receive small gears or similar parts as illustrated in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

A charging door 39 is provided in the outer side wall of the furnace through which articles to be treated are placed upon the hearth, which rotates in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. 2, and a similar discharge door 40 maybe located adjacent thereto.

A transverse or radial partition wall 41 is located between the charge and' discharge doors and provided with a central slot 42 of sufficient width to permit the rods 29 and hooks 38. to pass therethrough. To prevent damage to the partition walls, in case the operator does not remove the articles, the

walls may be hinged so as to swing when any articles are moved against them.

If desired an auxiliary discharge door 43 may be located at a point spaced from the main discharge door-4.0 in order that articles may be removed from the furnace before the hearth has completed a revolution or to assist in quickly discharging the treated articles from the furnace, or to remove articles which are suspended from the hooks, leaving the hearth to be discharged through the door 40.

I claim:

1. A furnace having a slot in its roof, a supporting member movable along said slot, rods suspended from the supporting member through said slot, and a hearth suspended upon said rods.

2. A furnace including a heating charnber, a movable supporting member, a hearth suspended from said supporting member and arranged to be moved through the heating chamber and article supporting hooks suspended from said supporting member and arranged to support articles spaced above the hearth.

3. A furnace having a slot in its roof, a supporting member movable along said slot,

rods suspended from the supporting member through said slot, a hearth suspended upon said rods and article supporting hooks suspended from said supporting member between said rods.

4. A furnace having an annular slot in its roof, a rotatable ring above said slot, rods suspended from the ringv through said slot, and a hearth suspended upon said rods.

5. A furnace having an annular slot in its roof, a rotatable ring above said slot, rods suspended from the ring through said slot, and a hearth comprising plates suspended upon said rods.

6. A furnace having an annular slot in its roof, a rotatable ring above said slot, rods suspended from the ring through said slot, a hearth suspended upon said rods and article supporting hooks suspended from the ring between said rods.

7. A furnace having a slot in its roof, a supporting member movable along said slot, sealing means to prevent loss of heat through the slot. and a hearth suspendedlfrom the supporti ng member.

8. A furnace having a slot in its roof, a supporting member movable along said slot, sealing means to prevent loss of heat through the slot, a hearth suspended `from the supporting member, and article supporting hooks suspended from the supporting member above the hearth.

9. A furnace having a circular slot in its roof, a heat insulated ring rotatable above the slot, sealing means to prevent loss of heat through the slot, and a. hearth suspended from said ring.

10. A furnace having a slot in its roof, supporting means movable along the slot, gas sealing and heat insulating means carried by the supporting means, and article supporting means suspended from the supporting means.`

In testimony that I claim the above, l have hereunto subscribed my name.

FRANK T. COPE. 

